zation, received an A– rating after it
paid $425 for accreditation. Only then
was this Hamas revealed as a hoax. So
what exactly had the BBB accredited?

“We do have a procedure to screen
applications,” says William G. Mitchell, who heads southern California’s
BBB chapter. “The idea is that, based
on the information available, we want
to be able to express an opinion on the
reliability of that company.” Since the
BBB focuses on resolving complaints
against the worst businesses, he adds,
a nonexistent business is unlikely to
prompt much scrutiny.

And public information on anybusiness can be scant. “The vast ma-jority are not regulated,” says Mitchell.“There’s no government authoritythat oversees their operation. They’renot licensed by anybody.”But if reviewers lack solid informa-tion, then what is an A from the BBB—or any rating on any website—reallyworth? Most consumer sites let thepublic make the grades, yet manyconsumer advocates emphasizethat grades in general are not asvaluable as users’ comments.
ConsumerAffairs.com, an onlinepublisher supported by advertising,posts thousands of consumer com-ments on businesses—almost all ofthem critical—but does not includeratings. “When you start runningcompliments or asking people to givestars, you end up getting results thatare much more easily skewed,” sayseditor in chief Jim Hood.

Kate Ashford writes about personal
finance and health from New York City.